Bleigiessen
An Eastern European New Year’s Eve ritual may seem like an unusual source of inspiration for a sculpture, but then again I was never one to truly understand art… Anyhow, at the year’s end, a custom in certain countries is to pour molten lead into cold water, then interpret the shapes to determine fortunes for the coming year. The practice is known, in German, as “Bleigiessen”, or “lead-guessing”.
When the Wellcome Trust opened a redesigned headquarters, they commissioned sculptor Thomas Heatherwick to create a 30-metre tall sculpture – the catch being it had to be brought in through a regular-sized door. Heatherwick took inspiration from his German heritage, performing the art of Bleigiessen to find a suitable shape for artwork – one that represented the new beginning for the Wellcome Trust. The sculpture was then crafted from over 140,000 glass beads suspended by wires.
Bleigiessen is probably best viewed at night, when nicely illuminated and with the reflective film of the beads reflecting light in a myriad of colours (including that of nearby Euston Square Underground station!).
Happy New Year 2020 all!
